By Miles Layton

GATESVILLE — After 14 years serving Gates County Schools, Superintendent Barry Williams has resigned a year before his employment contract was set to end — he leaves with praise from the Board of Education for his service and a $50,000 severance package. 

Let’s back up a moment and consider: how did that happen? It’s not every day that a superintendent resigns, particularly with school slated to start in about a month, with teachers returning the second week of August and students on Aug. 24.     

By now our readers know the headline from Monday’s meeting — BOE accepted Dr. Williams’ resignation, with his last day being July 31, and Dr. Chante Jordan, a longtime administrator for Gates County Schools, will take his place as interim superintendent. See our story here.  

BOE renewed Williams’ 4-year contract in May of 2023, and it was set to expire June 30, 2027, according to his most recent contract. See the contract at the end of the story.

Worth noting, the contract had a clause that would’ve allowed an automatic one-year extension, which, if it had moved forward, would’ve ended June 30, 2028.

Williams has served as superintendent since 2012.  

Board Chair Leslie Byrum said Williams will receive $50,000 in severance pay, along with his health insurance, through July 31st.  

Williams was paid an annual salary of $179,557.56. 

Byrum said Jordan’s salary as superintendent is under discussion. 

This sudden change in leadership didn’t just happen on a whim. 

BOE discussions of Williams’ future were held behind closed doors – it’s a personnel matter, thus shielded from public purview. And I’ll say this to provide proper context – that’s the law as to how school employee matters are handled – there’s no conspiracy. This Board has been very transparent, within the parameters of the law, as to matters under discussion. 

As to a letter of resignation, Byrum said the letter is part of Williams’ personnel file and therefore will be private. 

When the announcement about Williams’ resignation was made Monday in open session, there were no remarks from BOE members explaining why this leadership change was happening, even though he had a year left on his employment contract.  

As part of the press release announcing the leadership changes, BOE posted this statement about Williams.  

“The Gates County Board of Education extends its sincere appreciation to Dr. Williams for his dedicated service, leadership, and commitment to the students, staff, families, and community of Gates County Schools. The Board thanks him for his contributions and wishes him continued success in his future endeavors,” the Board’s statement said. 

In an email to the Albemarle Observer, Byrum praised Jordan’s leadership and said she will do a great job serving Gates County Schools.  

“Dr. Jordan has done an outstanding job along with numerous other employees during this consolidation.   She has worked extremely hard with all our employees during the closing of one school and our RIF.  This has not been an easy task.”

Byrum continued, “Dr. Jordan has worked in numerous roles in her life of education, filling many positions. This has given her the leadership qualities she has now. She has proven her leadership during this period of time. I believe she will bring new ideas to our school system and will do an outstanding job as acting and interim superintendent.”  

Maybe it’s just a nuance, but Jordan was named acting superintendent until July 31 – Williams’ last day – and then she was named as interim superintendent starting Aug. 1 during Monday’s BOE meeting. 

However, BOE’s press release, issued a few hours after the meeting, says she is to begin serving as interim immediately. Tomato-tomato, but that prompted a follow-up question to Byrum — and I wasn’t the only one to ask that question.  

Without missing a beat, Byrum explained that the earlier press release, issued late Monday evening via social media, was incorrect — instead, as was stated accurately at the BOE meeting, Jordan will serve as Acting Superintendent until July 31, then as Interim. 

On that note, the BOE will conduct a search for the next superintendent in due time. For now, congratulations go to Dr. Jordan and Dr. Williams; thanks for your service. He was named the Northeast Region Superintendent of the Year in 2019 and has served on numerous state committees and leadership cohorts focused on advancing public education.

Williams served Gates County Schools for 14 years, which is a long run for public schools’ superintendents these days. Like Methodist pastors changing parishes every four to eight years, a superintendent who serves a school district more than 6-8 years, with one or two contract renewals, has become increasingly rare. Twenty-five years ago, it was not uncommon for a superintendent to serve a longer stay, but these days… not so much. That’s because the nature of the position has changed over time, and, as with any leadership position, politics always plays a role with regard to longevity. 

During a joint meeting between the Gates County Commission and the BOE, Commissioner Dave Forsythe called for Williams’ resignation. See our story here.  That budget discussion was tense, particularly given that the school district has faced financial shortfalls in recent years due to declining enrollment and rising costs – challenges that led to the closure of Buckland Elementary.  See our story here.

Worth noting: declining enrollment directly affects a school district’s bottom line, so these challenges are not unique to Gates County, but are faced by many rural school districts, particularly across Northeast NC.

Last note: there will be a future story about Williams’ tenure and accomplishments during his time serving the school system.

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